Family support services

Family support services can help you get through a rough time. In non-protective cases — cases that arise from a trauma to your child or a serious illness, an accident, or a death in your family — the Ministry of Children and Family Development can open a file and provide you with some help. Services can include mental health counselling for your child and a Family Support Worker to help you and your children get through your difficult time.

Family Support Workers can teach coping, parenting, and problem-solving skills, and connect you to community resources. Workload issues mean that most ministry offices handle only a small number of such non-protective cases.

A second option is a written Family Support Service Agreement. Under this agreement, the ministry can provide counselling services, parenting support programs, respite care for your children, and other in-home supports. Respite care means that your children may be looked after by foster parents for up to six days a month. The cost for respite care is based on your income.

Family Support Service Agreements can last for up to six months and may be renewed.

Tips: For more detail on support and intervention services, consult the relevant section of The BC Handbook for Action on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Before entering a Family Support Service Agreement, see our Tips about entering a Family Support Service Agreement.